Texan Russell Parrish, who's competed on the Bassmaster Elite Series the past 2 years, told BassFan today that he'll forego that circuit in 2013 and return to the FLW Tour, where he competed in 2010.
"I'm basically out of money," he said. "Because of the New York tournaments (on the '13 Elite schedule) and there being more tournaments in general (than on the FLW Tour), I didn't think I had the time or money to fish the Elites next year. The FLW tournaments are closer to home and there's two fewer of them, so that's the route I decided to take.
"I hate not giving the Elites 3 years, but I just couldn't do it. I never really had a major sponsor – I had people helping me out with boats and rods and things like that, but nobody putting money in my pocket, and that pocket's pretty thin right now."
Parrish, who owns a heavy-equipment sales operation, logged three Top-50 finishes in his 2 seasons on the Elites, with two of those coming at Florida's St. Johns River. He ended up 92nd on the points list in 2011 and 87th this year.
He was 116th in the 2010 FLW points chase with a top placement of 89th at Fort Loudoun/Tellico.
